In a ready State? 

The Hindustan Times, January 7, 2005 

The government of India is being projected to deliver relief and facilitate rehabilitation of those affected by the tsunami. But how effective has it been in dealing with 'crisis' during normal times? Asks Barun Mitra.

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After the disaster, comes the accounting. As the body count crosses 150,000, the Indian government scrambles to reassure citizens that relief and rehabilitation measures are being dealt with on a war footing. 

Everyone agrees that human cost of this tragedy will far outstrip the economic cost of damage to property and economy. After all, how much is a poor coastal fisherman in a poor country worth? 

What we gather from the media are reports of too much used clothing at one spot, no drinking water at another, angry victims turning their wrath on hapless government servants at a third spot, or evacuation of victims going on one whole week after the tsunami. Not the most reassuring picture, this. 

Relevant information or the lack thereof, continues to be a major hurdle. While the government is seeking to centralize the flow of information, is it better placed to process the volume of information being generated? There is so much information available on the Internet. One snippet informs that a simple cycle air pump could greatly help improve the efficiency of the water filtration process. Another snippet says that the sea water around Nicobar is thought to be conducive to carry cholera. Most water sources in that island having been polluted, special attention needs to be paid to this potential problem. 

While the tragedy has been global in scope, affecting people in more than fifty countries, the response has been truly international. Money is being raised around the world. By one count, pledges worth USD 2 billion have been made by international governments, agencies, and charities, and is growing.

However, India has politely declined all offers of help from abroad. Apparently, help from the US and other Western nations are suspect. What the suspicions are, remain unclear at best. Is it better to sacrifice the basic human security of our people, in the name of national security or self-reliance? 

It would seem petty to raise issues of policy when millions of people are waiting for relief and rehabilitation. The point is that policies that have perpetuated poverty for decades will be the biggest obstacle to reaching relief to the victims today, and in facilitating rehabilitation tomorrow. 

We know that the poor are the most vulnerable to natural calamities. The question here is, what has been the role of their governments in removing poverty, or even allowing the poor to work themselves out of the rut through conducive economic environment? 

If the government of India can really deliver relief and facilitate rehabilitation in a crisis like the present one, would it not have been much more effective in dealing with poverty at normal times? Can we really provide clean drinking water to the victims of the tsunami, when half of our population doesn’t have access to it in normal times? Can the government really deliver medication in a devastated area, when the state of public health care is so pathetic? Can we really distribute food in the crisis areas, when we have the normal spectacle of bulging glut in government depots, and a third of our children are malnourished as a matter of routine? According to estimates, two-thirds of those killed in the few minutes of the killer wave have been women and children. But a million children under the age of five die each year in India due to preventable diseases, poor sanitation and non-potable water. 

There can be no doubt about it: relief operations should have been opened up to any one interested, including foreign governments and organisations. Just as all of us use thousands of products in our daily life without knowing who, where and how these are produced, opening up relief operations to the power of the market forces would ensure effective delivery, where it is needed most. 

The state generally commands logistical resources such as communication and transportation to launch relief and rehabilitation operations of such magnitude. However, part of the problem, the logistical bottlenecks is also the result of such government control. It is claimed that profit- seeking operations of the marketplace is unsuitable for the task of disaster relief. 

Actually, the profit motive is one of the most powerful incentives devised by man to get anything done. Increased prices indicates to traders and investors an opportunity to meet the demand. And in the absence of procedural and logistical bottlenecks, the hallmark of government control, the market discovers the most cost effective way to deliver the necessary goods. 

And any effort at maximising profits by perpetuating misery is offset by other competitors, as also by private charities and organisations. People do care. On the other hand, virtually every kind of relief operation mounted by government in India has suffered from delays, and often tainted by corruption. It is impossible for the private sector to match that level of perversity. 

Apart from the chaos and delays in providing relief, there is a more fundamental problem in government-dominated relief operations. The government operates on the basis of coercive taxation, citizens do not have a choice in the matter. In contrast, private relief operates on the basis of voluntarily donation. The resultant problem of “moral hazard” is not an abstract speculation. It is not uncommon to hear people asking what is the point in making donations if the government is going to tax for relief. Although any immediate taxes to deal with the disaster have been ruled out for the moment, it is difficult to believe that the government would let such an opportunity to expand its domain go by. 

There is a much irony in all this. The poor have been the biggest victim of this natural calamity. Government economic policies have singularly helped perpetuate this poverty for decades, thus sustaining the vulnerability of the people. Yet in this moment of crisis, the government is seeking to further expand its domain in the name of helping the people. 


[Barun Mitra is the director of Liberty Institute, a Delhi-based independent think tank seeking to empower people by harnessing the power of the market.]